It is without doubt that most computer books take more time
to read than the program takes to learn. What is worse, these books
can tire even the most studious person to the point of deflating
that pumped up feeling that accompanies tackling a new
program.

Fortunately, such is not the case with CorelDRAW
for Linux: f/x & Design, by Shane Hunt (Coriolis
Group, 2000). Hunt is not the kind of author that merely tells you
about the program, like so many glorified help-file-style books. He
writes to get the reader into the program. Well-written and
slightly eccentric, the book will have the reader screaming for
more with each chapter.

The title of the book is not misleading. Throughout the book,
the author focuses on designing and creating great effects with
CorelDRAW for Linux. No getting bogged down with print issues and
page setup, this book is about creating. Coriolis Group calls their
F/X Series of books the Creative Professionals Press. Hunt's
delivery and content does not undermine the brand, but exemplifies
it.

The book is made up of 18 chapters and has four to five
projects per chapter, each of which stands alone in its own right.
But, for the sake of his learning audience, he creates a linear
movement, beginning with reasonably simple exercises before moving
on to more complex projects. Let's take a look at one example from
Chapter 2.

Shane gives a respectful but playful nod to his Linux readers
by having us tackle creating our favorite mascot, Tux the Penguin.
In 17 steps (less than a paragraph for each step), the student will
have a hand made mascot right on their desktop. The fulfillment of
this project comes from the fact that we made him from scratch.
That's right. The head, body, flippers, feet, beak and eyes are all
created by us, the readers (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Tux the Penguin

How does he do this for us? The answer will reveal the
content of Shane's book as well as what the reader can expect
throughout the duration of his work.

Hunt teaches us like someone teaching a student driver. He's
not going to describe every minor detail of the transmission before
he allows us to get in the driver's seat. Rather, he says, “Here's
where you sit, there's the steering wheel, the pedals, stick shift
and windshield. Let's go.” From here, he shows and tells you how
to drive while you are driving. This understanding of how to write
for an audience who needs to be doing work (rather than reading
about it) is what elevates this book as one that does not belong on
your bookshelf but on your desk.

In Chapter 2, Hunt himself sums it up for us: “You don't
have to be dripping with talent to be a good artist; you just have
to learn how to use the tools that you have and be patient enough
to work out any design problems that arise.”

When learning a vector-based drawing program, everything
begins with a simple shape: a line, a circle, a square. Likewise
for Shane's method. He embarks on a trek that begins with these
simple shapes (just like our penguin friend) and then, through
acquiring the necessary familiarity, technical expertise and
willingness to participate, we acquire a knowledge and skill base
that allows us to go far beyond the confines of his book.

Exactly how much can one acquire from one of Shane's
projects? Consider our penguin, above. Once done, the reader will
have had hands-on experience with over a dozen of CorelDRAW's tools
with an equal amount of techniques for manipulating its
features.

Immersion by example is what Shane's work is all about. The
projects he gives us have to be seen rather than heard. But a short
list will provide an inkling of what to expect. From the
perspective of how CorelDRAW for Linux works, the reader will be
exposed to editing shapes, working with transparency and shadow,
creating blends and contour effects, as well as incorporating
Bitmap (raster) images and modifying them within CorelDRAW's
environment. From a creative stance, Shane has us designing ads and
banners, optical illusions, chains, blades, barbed wire, comic book
characters and celestial wonders. All this by no means exhausts the
book's content.

The overall structure of the book caters nicely to a learning
environment: lots of screenshots to determine where we are in the
program, lots of images of the work in progress to evaluate our own
work, plenty of secondary detail alongside the figures to add
clarity to whatever tool or method we are currently using, and
enough white space to add our own comments or notes.

Shane abides by the principle “tell them what you're going
tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.” This
proves to be an excellent heuristic device when going through the
book's self-contained chapters.

Although Shane takes writing about CorelDRAW for Linux
seriously, many of his examples may give the impression that his
book is not to be taken seriously. If you're a technical
illustrator who needs to know CorelDRAW as an occupational hazard,
you may find yourself a little overly amused at some of the
projects in the book. You're in need of creating a span bridge, and
you're faced with a chapter on tattoos and barbed wire—consider it
a challenge to expand your horizons to illustrate with
diversity!

Most, if not all, of the book is about illustrating the fun
stuff—things that look cool. This is Shane's trademark style and
it shows—and works. But what is most important and justifies
buying the book is its ability to have the reader master the
immense girth of CorelDRAW for Linux while also becoming immersed
in the program itself.

As a fellow purchaser of books, I am always asking the same
question over and over as I thumb through the myriad publications
for computer programs: what will this book do for me? And too many
times the reply comes: not much. Such is not the case with this
book. CorelDRAW for Linux f/x & Design by
Shane Hunt, delivers. With every chapter and every project, the
reader will be learning, using and mastering the well-known power
that has made CorelDRAW a standard in vector-based illustration and
design.

Clifford Anderson
is a freelance writer and
graphic designer. Currently residing in Portland, Oregon, he can be
reached at aclifford@uswest.net.

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really interesting article! I am tired of being affiliated with mr gates and am exploring the possibilities of changing to linux. Nice to see there are some tuts for those who use that operating system

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